It's Not Over 'Till the Fat Lady Sings
by KuramaKitty
Summary: Samantha Starnette: fourteen, overweight, not going to be a runway model anytime soon, not to mention middle class. But, the private school across town is giving away a free scholarship to their school, if they can pass their test. Full summary inside.
1. Intro

Hello! It's ME! KuramaKitty! Here with my first multi-chapter story! Aint'cha all so proud? Do me a favor and just ignore my other stories. They have a very bad case of Mary-Sueness and OOCness. So, just ignore and give this story a try.

**MUCH, MUCH LOVE TO AYESHA RAEES WHO AGREED TO BE MY BETA WRITER!**

She will be the one who will keep me on track so Sam doesn't become a Mary-Sue (I hope I've done a good job so far…) and so the Bey Gang doesn't get out-of-character.

Anyway, enough of me, on to the full summary and first chapter. I hope you like it and thanks who are going to give this fic a chance.

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**FULL SUMMARY:** Samantha Starnette: fourteen, overweight, not going to be a runway model anytime soon, not to mention middle class. But, the private school across town is giving away a free scholarship to their school, if they can pass their test. Surprise, surprise, Sam gets it. However, the paradise on Earth she thought it would be turns out to be anything but with snobby-rich-kids-who-need-an-attitude-check galore. Now she's worried about making it through the first semester, let alone four years. KaiXOC TalaXOC RayXMariah and maybe more.

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own the anime Beyblade or any of its character. The lucky jerk who does is Takao Aoki, so do not sue me for anything of the sort. I only own Samantha, any other characters you don't happen to recognize from the series and the plot line

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A young girl, in her early teens steps outside her house to get some fresh air for a few seconds. Her little brother was driving her crazy, singing random songs off-key as loud as he could while playing on his Nintendo Wii. She half-wished school would start already so she wouldn't have to be near him for most of the day. There's also the fact that she was hoping to get a job soon, which would get her away from him for even longer.

She turned to go back inside a few moments later - it was far too hot to be outside for too long of a time - but something moving in the corner of her eye made her pause. She turned and saw the mailman coming up her walkway. She waited to grab the mail for her parents before walking back into the blessed air-conditioned house.

She flipped through the numerous envelopes of junk mail and bills out of habit, glad that she didn't have to deal with them yet, along with the magazines and brochures that were never-ending and useless, pausing when she found a rather thick envelope addressed to her.

_Samantha Starnette_

She saw the return address and her eyes lit up in excitement. She had known this was coming to her eventually, she just hadn't thought it would be this soon!

She dropped the rest of the mail on the kitchen counter on her way upstairs to her room. She sat on her bed and tore the top of said package off and she wedged her finger between the sides to open it. She reached in and took out the contents and laid them on her lap. Before she could take a deep breath and prepare herself, her eyes skipped across the piece of paper like a little kid running away from his parents, not wanting to leave the park and go home yet. She had to read it over three different times because she had read too fast and skipped over some other information. Once she could be sure of what the paper said, she set it off to the side and stared off into space, speechless. She was so overwhelmed by the information on the paper, it took a while for the responding emotions to show themselves.

Three… Two… One…

She stood and started jumping up and down out of pure joy and laughed gleefully. She snatched the piece of paper from where she set it and ran downstairs to find her mom. She tripped near the bottom and stumbled the rest of the way down. She raced off toward the living room where her mom was probably teasing her little brother - he was four years younger than she was - and maybe her dad about something. Her suspicions were correct, but they all stopped talking as soon as she ran in. She caught her breath - unfortunately, she was way out of shape - and started squealing happily, waving her arms around.

Everyone laughed at her - which didn't bother her much, they're her family, she laughs at them too - and her mom asked why she was so worked up.

"Look!" Sam replied, shoving the paper in her face. She grabbed it and held it a few inches away from her face so she could read it. She skimmed over it but got the gist of it pretty quickly. Her face lit up and she suddenly hugged her daughter. She hugged her back, chanting "I got in! I got in!" over and over again. Her dad and brother immediately got what she meant and joined in the happy-fest.

Wondering what the heck's going on? You see, if Sam were to be 'labeled,' she would be labeled as a geek and/or nerd. She's nearly blind as a bat, so she has to wear pretty thick glasses. No glasses equals having to have a book half an inch from her face in order to read it. Yeah, they're pretty thick. They're stylish though, so she doesn't really mind wearing them over her pale green eyes. She also has a problem with acne on her face and shoulders; it just doesn't seem to want to go away and stay away. The last thing would be: she is smart. Or just a quick learner and a better memory. She can get straight A's with only minimal effort.

Although, out of the usual smart, beautiful, and funny that guys usually look in for girlfriends and such, the smarts is the only thing she has going for her. Maybe a little bit of funny. She wouldn't say she's the ugliest girl in the world but she definitely thinks she's not pretty or beautiful. Her five foot two height with her somewhere around one seventy pound weight, makes her pretty large. Her clothes sizes are quite a few bigger than other girls around her age. It's genetic though and she loves her food too dang much to even think about giving it all up just to fit in with everyone else. It's. _Not_. **Worth**. It.

The only thing about herself that she absolutely loves is her hair. She adores it so much and takes very good care of it. She is proudly a brunette and it will probably not be much shorter than the waist-length it usually is. The thing she loves most about it is that it's very wavy. Other than her hair, there's not much else she's exactly proud of. Physically, at least; she loves being smart! This is actually why she's so happy, we can get moving on now to the explanation, finally!

She is officially fourteen years old and just coming out of junior high. Just three short months away she gets to start her Freshman year of high school. Joy. Note the sarcasm. While she is not so excited of her role as a lower classman, it does help when she gets to **not** go to her town's public high school and gets to go to Abbey Private High School! The prestigious school is supposed to be one of the best in the nation, and it so very kindly offered a full scholarship to one very lucky in-coming Freshman who was 'worthy' enough. Guess what? That's Sam! She took the very special test and out of fifty-and-some-odd kids, she was the only one to get above the minimum score that was set which would've been the only way to actually impress their school board members and accept her. Needless to say, she had the best score, but that would have meant little if she hadn't passed the minimum score.

Of course, now she has to wake up half an hour earlier just to get ready in time to walk all the way across town, and she's sure her new uniform is just wonderful…

Wonderful enough to throw in her fireplace.


	2. Meeting the Principal

**Disclaimer and full summary in chapter one. Hope you enjoy! **

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Samantha sat on one of the highly comfortable chair in Abbey Private School's Principal's Office. It was one of those stylish black leather chairs, plenty of room for big people. You know, the ones normal people can't ever afford? Yeah.

Her mom sat on her right, while her dad sat on her left, positively beaming. She smiled up at both of them, loving the fact that she could make them proud. During the last week since she got her acceptance letter, they called the school and set up an appointment to meet with the principal, order her uniform, register her for school, all that fun stuff her parents get to do. Her parents also called their relatives and pretty much bragged to everyone. Not very surprising, but she hoped that they didn't seem like they were rubbing the wrong way.

From the little she's seen of the school so far, it looked very big and stylish. The school had three stories as far as she knew. The first floor had the gym, the auditorium, the cafeteria, the office and teacher's lounge, along with the language classes and some other assorted electives. The second floor had the required classes, like English, Math, History, and Science, and the top floor has the rest of the elective classes along with a lounge area for kids to relax in. There were lots of bulletin boards along all the walls and was subtly decorated, just enough to notice the elegance to everything.

The Principal's office was furnished the same way. It was an average sized room, painted a warm, dull forest green, with black and blue furnishings in it, matching what looked like the school's colors. It looked like what a public school's office might look like, but with slight hints to designer. In front of the three identical chairs Sam's dad, mom, and herself sat in was a wooden desk that took up almost a third of the room. Behind them was a small black leather couch her brother was sitting on, and filing cabinets took up the rest of the space in the room.

The door opened and their attention landed on the older man stepping through the room.

"I'm sorry for the wait," he said. He closed the door and walked over to stand behind his desk. He was a big man too, looking like he was in his 60's. His white hair didn't reach the top of his head, only growing on the sides of his head and meeting around in the back. A small black hat sat on his head, covering most of his bald spot. A bushy mustache lay above his mouth, and glasses rested on his nose. He smiled at them, looking very, very friendly.

"Oh, it's no problem," Sam's Mom assured the older man, standing up along with her dad. Her brother and herself followed suit. They all took turns shaking his hand, and waited until he sat down to do so themselves.

"Well, my name is Mr. Dickenson, and this must be Samantha Starnette, our new student." He smiled at Sam and she smiled back.

"Yep, that's her!" her dad confirmed with a huge grin and both her parents and Principal Dickenson laughed.

"So, I suppose the first thing that we should do is create your schedule, Miss Samantha."

"You can call me Sam, if you want," she corrected politely. She's been called Sam all her life, and being addressed as Samantha is kind of weird for her.

"All right then, Sam" - he handed her a piece of paper - "here's a list of all the elective classes that you can join as a Freshman. If you could pick a class for me, then I'll try to fit it in with your required classes."

She skimmed down the long list and immediately decided on one once she saw it. "Creative Writing?"

"Ah," he started, reaching for the paper. "that's one not a lot of people decide on."

"Well, I want to be an author when I get out of high school, maybe even beforehand, if possible," she said, blushing and fidgeting in her chair.

"Well, then Creative Writing is the class for you." He got up from his chair and walked toward the door. "Let me just give your elective to the secretary and she'll get your schedule ready for you." He slipped out of the room, leaving it slightly ajar. Sam sent another warm smile up to her parents and they smiled back.

"This couch is comfortable," her brother whispered behind her.

"This chair is comfortable," Sam whispered back, smiling at her brother's randomness.

Principal Dickenson slipped back inside the room and started talking to her parents about all the inevitable paperwork. Uniform sizes, when school starts and lets out - which is at 8:00 am and 3:00 pm - supply list, and other stuff that she wasn't able to keep up with. Then he turned to Sam and told her about all the extracurricular activities the school offered - she immediately crossed any sports off her list of possible events she would partake in, and screamed 'HELL NO' in her head as he listed off cheerleading - the class schedule, honor role requirements, and school dance rules. He made sure he didn't forget one single thing.

The door opened then and the secretary handed Principal Dickenson a piece of paper. He thanked her then handed Sam the paper after she left the room. "Here's your schedule, Sam. She was able to get Creative Writing as one of your classes."

She looked it over and got up automatically when she saw her parents getting up out of the corner of her eye. They both took turns shaking Mr. Dickenson's hand again before he wished Sam good luck at the school. She thanked him, smiled, then followed her parents out of the principal's office and the school altogether, trying to make sure she got all her ogling out of the way so she didn't look like an overexcited tourist on her first day of school.

_That would be sooooo awkward, not to mention stupid of me and I'll look idiotic as well_, she thought, imagining everyone's judging expressions as they thought that she was crazy.

About ten minutes later, after searching through the part of town they have rarely ever went to - there was really no need to; everything on this side of town was far too expensive - Sam's mother pulled into a small restaurant's parking lot, deciding to eat dinner there before going home. It looked cheap enough. Both her parents still had an excited air about them, anticipating telling everyone they knew that didn't know yet about their daughter's accomplishment. Sam was starting to get a bit embarrassed; her parents had been praising her on this for the past week - far, far too long for her liking.

They stepped in and looked around. To their left was a series of six or seven booths lined the walls and the windows. A few long tables sat in the middle of them all for some of the bigger groups, and to their right laid a long counter top where about six stools were. Sam saw an Asian boy, probably not too much older than she was, sitting behind the counter, chin resting in his palm, staring off into space, looking bored out of his mind. He looked up when he heard the door open and stuck a small smile on. It looked half-forced and half-grateful that there was something for him to do now. He had very, very long black hair, longer than even Sam had, pulled back into a long braid with some framing his face and sticking up into spikes and striking yellow cat-like eyes that looked almost too natural to be contacts. All in all, Sam had to admit that he was good-looking. Not out loud, of course, in front of her parents and brother who would have a field day with that information.

"You can go ahead and sit wherever you like," he said, reaching for some menus. They walked to a random booth close to where they walked in and the teenager followed, giving them their menus then taking their drink orders. Sam's mom and dad started talking about what kinds of food the restaurant had and Sam and her brother stayed quiet, listening to their parents, sipping at their drinks, and starting a kicking war under the table. By the time the food came, Sam's legs sorely hurt and she was sure her brother's did too. The black-haired, yellow-eyed teenager - whose name she learned was Ray - left their food and walked off, sitting at the counter and resuming whatever he was doing before we came in. Whatever it was, he was still bored.

A few moments later, it seemed like he was saved from it for a little bit when a young man, although much older than the teenager, walked up behind him and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Hey! Roy! What was that for?" the teenager yelled, more angry than hurt.

"You, Ray. Stop sulking, you look pitiful. The least you could do is stand outside in the middle of the street and make people stop here and eat," the man said, an amused smirk on his face. He had black hair as well, only much shorter, passing just an inch or two past his chin, with a style much like Ray's and the same yellow eyes. In fact, they looked like brothers.

"Ha ha, so funny, then I can blame you when I get run over," Ray replied, sarcasm lacing his tone.

"Eh, you'll live," Roy simply said. "You know, if you're so miserable here, then find someone else to take your place for after-school and such."

This piqued Sam's interest. She had been looking for a job. Maybe here? It actually wasn't that far from the school. She could just walk here when school let out then walked back home when she could. She was planning on asking a few questions about the job as her parents paid for the meal, but as her mom paid the bill, she couldn't quite find the courage and words to ask. She wasn't really sure if her parents would even approve of her wanting to work.

She'd have to ask later, maybe with those puppy-dog eyes and the pout that usually could win over her dad. That would work! She spent the rest of the way home thinking of the best way to ask her parents about getting that job… And smacking her brother every time he decided to be obnoxious.


	3. First Day on the Job

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own the anime Beyblade or any of its character. The lucky jerk who does is Takao Aoki, so do not sue me for anything of the sort. I only own Samantha, any other characters you don't happen to recognize from the series and the plot line

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Samantha Starnette: bookworm, happy-go-lucky, can't sit still for more than thirty seconds, hates boredom, hates silence… So why did she agree to take this job again? Oh yeah, she really wanted the extra money. Right now, she's wondering if this complete and utter boredom was worth 6.50 an hour. It might've been, if she had brought something to do. Like, I don't know, a book. Maybe a book of sudoku puzzles, or even a deck of cards to play solitaire. There really was nothing else better to do. To think she practically begged her parents for the last week to let her get this job.

She had already cleaned all the tables and seats twice, she cleaned all the dishes, Roy, her boss, showed her how to work the cash register, she vacuumed the rug, swept the kitchen floor, mopped a bit… The only thing she _didn't_ do was clean the toilets, which Roy offered to do himself since she had done everything else. He was busy doing that at the moment while she just sat here, bored out of her mind, willing someone to come through the door.

_Ohhh… Come on, someone _PLEASE _walk through the door… Please? Please, please, please, please, pleeeeeeeeease?_ Sam thought to herself, trying, if nothing else, to entertain herself. She stretched her arms in front of her, reaching as far as she can across the counter. She rested her head on her arms for a few moments before deciding it was too uncomfortable of a position to stay in for any period of time.

She heard a heavy sigh behind her and turned around to see Roy, standing there with a disappointed look on his face.

"I'm sorry Samantha," he said apologetically. "I really was hoping for at least _someone_ to come in today. I didn't mean to have you clean everything."

"It's okay, I don't mind, really," Sam said sincerely to her boss. She let a smile stretch her face. "Besides, if I sat around all day, then I'm not really doing any work to get paid for. Oh, and it's Sam, please," she said as an afterthought.

"All right," he said, smiling back at his new employee.

_Ding_

Almost immediately after the end of their conversation, the door opens and they hear that little bell. They both turn their gaze to the door and see a family of three come in the door. The woman was pretty hefty, wearing a pair of jeans and a nice shirt made out of a soft kind of material with a bit of floral print that Sam thought was very pretty. She had beautiful long blue hair, reaching mid-back and dark brown eyes. The man also had blue hair, only it was a few shades darker, almost a grayish color, and matched the woman in eye color. He was wearing black dress pants and a white button down shirt, almost like a suit except for the jacket and tie. His hair was sticking up all over the place, like he got it wet then shook it out and didn't bother to smooth it down.

Then there was the teenager. The boy close to her age. The boy who was the hottest guy she had _ever_ seen. Absolutely no contest. He obviously got his hair color from both of her parents, having his dad's grayish blue color in the front, spiking up everywhere, and his mom's dark blue hair in the back trailing down to the nape of his neck. He wore a black jacket over a Nickelback band T-shirt - a jacket in the middle of summer, what the hell? - and black jeans with gray tennis shoes. His brown eyes which almost seemed to have a reddish tint to them looked around the restaurant as soon as he walked in, looking for something. His gaze finally landed on Sam, who immediately blushed and looked away up to Roy who walked forward to shake hands with the man and woman.

"Alek, Elizabeth!" Roy greeted them with a grin then looked down at the teenager. "Hey there Kai! I don't know if Ray's told you yet, but he's free now. I finally hired a waitress. Practically tripped over his feet on the way out, the little whiner." Kai smirked in satisfaction at the fact that now he has his friend back so they can all play basketball and football together.

"I thought the place would be busier! I mean, it has just opened, hasn't it?" Elizabeth asked her best friend's son. She had come here to help support him, she loved him like her own son. It hurt her to see that he hasn't had much business yet.

"Yeah, a few weeks ago. You guys are the first all day, actually. I honestly don't know where everyone is. Poor Sam's been bored all day. Hopefully there'll be more for her to do tomorrow." All three pairs of eyes landed on her and Sam blushed, getting up from her spot behind the counter and picked up three menus. She smoothed out her plain dark red T-shirt and made sure her dark blue apron was on tightly over her black slacks. Menus in hand, she walked over to the gathering of people, two of which smiled warmly at her. The woman shook her hand and introduced herself.

"My name is Elizabeth Hiwatari, and this is my husband Alek and son Kai Hiwatari," both of them ducked their heads politely as she said their name to indicate who was who. "I'm so glad that Roy was able to find someone to work for him. He still needs a few more though, you can't work all the time," she sighed in disappointment.

"We'll be sure to help any way we can, we'll drag people here if we need to," Alek said, placing a hand on his wife's shoulder. Sam noted that he had a slight accent. Russian maybe, or something else like it.

"Definitely!" Elizabeth agreed. "Well, if you'll excuse us, I'm absolutely starving! We didn't come just to chat you know."

Roy laughed and said, "Of course! Go on and sit down wherever and I'll leave Sam to her job."

Roy walked back into the kitchen and Sam followed the Hiwataris to a booth next to the window. She set down the menus in front of them and brought out the order pad and pen Roy had given her that morning.

"Do you guys want anything to drink?" Sam asked politely with a smile and Mr. and Mrs. Hiwatari smiled back. Elizabeth wanted a water, Alek wanted an iced tea, and Kai asked for a coke. Sam wrote all three down then left to let them look over the menus and to get their drinks. All the while she was thinking of Kai, thinking about how incredibly good-looking he was. Then her thoughts drifted to her own appearance and knew he wouldn't even give her a second glance. A wave of sadness briefly passed over her as she thought of this but managed to push it away while walking back over to their table carefully, trying not to spill their drinks.

Kai Hiwatari, trying not to fall asleep from boredom listening to his parents talk, glanced up toward his parents when he heard a question directed at him.

"So Kai, excited for school in a few weeks?" his mom asked.

"Oh yes, just ecstatic. Woo-hoo," he replied dully, his tone covered in sarcasm.

"Oh, you know you are, don't even pull that with me," Elizabeth scolded her son. She then clarified her statement in an tone that stated that it should be obvious. "You'll get to hang out with all your friends again!"

Kai, tone matching his mother's, said, "Where do you think I go all the time? The Senior Citizen's Center to be a volunteer? I _do_ hang out with all my friends. The only difference with school is that I'll also be surrounded by other kids who are annoying and won't leave us alone. There's also the teachers who have _everything_ against us and love to pile on homework that we only finish halfway into the night."

"Tell me about it," Alek muttered, remembering his own youth at his own school.

"School's not all bad, I thought it was fun!" Elizabeth argued.

"That's 'cause you were a teacher's pet, honey," her husband teased, only earning him a smack in the back of the head. She glared at him for a moment before a realization came over her.

"I know what you need, Kai! A girlfriend!" she squealed, thinking of all the possibilities.

Kai felt like he could've choked on something. "What?" he demanded, completely embarrassed. The only relief he felt was from the fact that they were the only people in here besides Ray's older brother and that new waitress whose name he has already forgotten.

"And I'm not talking about those week-long relationships you and your friends always get into. I'm talking about a serious relationship with someone who really cares about you! That's what you need! Maybe then you'll be excited for school just to be able to see her!"

Kai slapped his hand over his face and groaned quietly. This was _not_ something he particularly enjoyed talking with his mother about. Luckily, before she could add anything else, the waitress came around with their drinks and asked if they were ready to order. Kai just decided to get a cheeseburger. He didn't feel like looking through the menu at the moment. Maybe next time. His mother and father also told her their orders and she walked off to give it to Roy.

He shrunk in his seat hoping with all his might that his mother wouldn't bring up the subject again. When she didn't and the food came, he thanked the gods above and dug in, realizing that the food actually was pretty good. Definitely a place to come back to. He took a bite of his burger and looked around the restaurant. While he wouldn't ever admit it, he was thinking about what his mother said about a long-term girlfriend. He ran through the girls he knew, searching for someone he _might_ consider as one, although he had no intention to. Mariah was nice as far as girls though, although it was plainly obvious she was practically in love with Ray. He's oblivious as ever, but it always works that way for some reason. Emily was okay, a bit too sarcastic and bossy for his taste but she and Max liked each other. Hilary was definitely good-looking but _man_, was she annoying! Such a teacher's pet! There were a number of other girls he ran through, and he categorized each one. There weren't many he would be willing to have as a long-term girlfriend. Oh well, he wasn't planning on getting one anytime soon anyway. He doesn't want some girl with a plastic face for a wife. If she needed plastic surgery in the first place, who knows what she originally looked like? He shuddered inwardly at the thought.

Alek and Elizabeth chatted a little while longer with Roy, before Kai followed them out of the restaurant, planning on calling Ray and getting everyone together for a game of football. He smirked at the thought of tackling everyone roughly to the ground. Yep, he definitely could wait for school to start.

Roy let Sam go home shortly after the Hiwataris left, assuming that no one else would show up for the night. He fervently hoped that more people would show up tomorrow - he needed them to keep this place! He had dreamed of owning a restaurant ever since he was little. He loved the idea of cooking for other people.

As Sam walked home in the setting sunlight, she thought again about Kai Hiwatari. Roy had mentioned that he went to Abbey Private High too. She hadn't thought much about the people there and what they looked and acted like. She imagined pretty girls who were a size two, beautiful girls who had a bit more meat on them, clear faces, soft, shiny hair, flawless skin… Her self-esteem took a huge hit just thinking about it. She didn't even want to entertain the thought of actually seeing these beautiful girls in person. And who knows what the guys there would think of her. They would probably pass right by her as if she were invisible. Her heart hurt. Her stomach felt like there was a huge hole in it. Like she needed this on top of going to one of the best high schools in the country. She sighed heavily and walked into her front door.

"BOO!"

Sam jumped like a bolt of lightning went through her and stumbled back. She heard laughter and saw her brother pointing at her from behind the front door.

Ooooohh, he was _so_ going to get it…

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Hello! Well, I haven't gotten much reviews (**NONE!**) and I was reaaaaaaally, really hoping that more people could review! It would make me sooo happy! Plus, I have some four and five already written, and if enough people review by next weekend, I just might post #4 before then, Hint, hint. And then five will also be put up next Sunday. I'm going to try to update every week to the best of my ability. It shouldn't be much of a problem.

So, anyway, please, please review, and also know that a chapter won't be posted until my beta deems it okay. So, while most chapters will probably be written by the next update date, if I don't post it when I say, then just go bug Ayesha. XD Not really, she's busy with school like all of us.

Thank you soo very much! Muchas love! KuramaKitty


	4. First Day at School

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own the anime Beyblade or any of its character. The lucky jerk who does is Takao Aoki, so do not sue me for anything of the sort. I only own Samantha, any other characters you don't happen to recognize from the series and the plot line

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"Buh-bye mom!" Sam said happily as she slipped out her front door. It was her first day of school and she was fully dressed and ready with everything she needed. She thought the school uniform issued her looked cute, unlike what she thought it would look like, but it wasn't so cute on her. It was a size too big - which she loved, it was very comfortable - but it just didn't look good. There was a white short-sleeve, button-down shirt underneath a black v-neck jacket on over it. The school's symbol was on the right shoulder of the jacket and the shirt, and a tie consisting of dark green, dark blue, and black stripes. The skirt, which reached just below her knees, had a was black and the colors dark green and dark blue crossing each other in a plaid pattern. The skirt was maybe a little too short for her liking, but she knew that was just because she wasn't used to wearing a skirt at all.

She got to her school, walked to her first class after setting up her locker and sat down in the desk closest to the door, for lack of a better place. She reached inside her backpack that she always carries around to grab a book that she brought to school with her. She immediately dives into her book and barely notices it when more students and eventually the teacher pile into the classroom. The first bell brings her back into the real world and she looks all around her to see most of the other desks filled up. She glances around at everyone and sees that many of the people describe her very fear, many of them are very much in a different league than Samantha herself. Her heart sinks and goes back to her book to try to take her mind off it.

The morning announcements comes on and she recognizes Mr. Dickenson's voice on the loudspeaker welcoming everyone back to school and wishes the Freshman good luck at the school.

_I think I'm going to need a bit more than just luck Mr. Dickenson, but thanks anyway…_ she thinks to herself, hoping that someone will want to talk to her.

"Hello class, my name is Ms. Kincaid, and I'll be your Health teacher for this year." Samantha looks toward the front to see a kind-looking teacher introducing herself. She had short brown hair and glasses framing brown eyes. Samantha hoped she would be able to get along with her. Or, at the very least, not seem like some stupid poor kid. "I know that most of you are Freshman, and I've never seen any of you before, so why don't we go around and introduce ourselves. I don't think we need to get into any work on the first day of school, do you?"

The class murmured in agreement, and Samantha smiled, knowing that she'd definitely like this teacher.

"How about you start, with the long brown hair in the corner?"

…Or maybe not.

"My name's Sam Starnette…" She trailed off, not knowing what else to add to that.

"Oh, that can't be all you have to say about yourself. What do you like to do?" Ms. Kincaid prompted.

"Pig out, by the looks of it…" a random kid mumbled out and the whole class burst out into giggles while Sam flushed in complete embarrassment. She blinked a few times, trying to keep from crying.

"I like to read," she mumbled, wanting to get the spotlight off of her as soon as possible.

"Now Hilary! That was not very nice!" Everyone only started laughing louder as Sam only felt her face growing hotter, a lump growing in her throat, and her heart sinking into her stomach. Ms. Kincaid quickly got things settled down and moved on to other people. Sam paid attention if only for lack of a better thing to do and forgot most of the student's names as soon as the next person said their own name. This was what took up most of the class period, and the rest Ms. Kincaid mostly spent talking about herself.

The bell rang and Sam gathered up all her supplies and put them in her backpack. She quickly ducked through the students in the hall as she made her way to her second period English I class, trying to attract as little attention as possible. Making even more of a fool of herself was the last thing she wanted to do. She walked in and found the closest seat to the door again. If anything, it'll make for a very quick escape.

Her English teacher was named Mr. Topper and he was pretty cool and funny. He had brown hair and a dull blue set of eyes. Luckily, no one in that class had an opportunity to make a comment on her slightly bigger size.

Her history class with an older guy named Mr. Thompson was okay; he was rather boring, but she could tell she wouldn't like her Physical Science class. The teacher was named Boris Balkov, or Mr. Balkov, a very scary-looking teacher with dark purple hair and glasses. He barked out orders and the normally talkative class was dead silent when he talked.

The lunch bell rang, and most kids practically ran out of the room, away from Mr. Balkov. Sam slung her bag over her shoulder and followed all the other kids into the cafeteria. She surveyed the lunch line and decided that she didn't feel like standing in one place for too long so she just figured she could pick out her table now. She sat down at one in the very corner of the room and brought out her book to read. She wasn't able to read very far, distracted by all the noise in the cafeteria, and occasionally glanced back to judge the line on how long it was. When there was only ten or so people left, she got up and walked all the way into her place in the line. She picked out a cheeseburger, an apple, and a bowl of fries and paid for it. She got some fry sauce for her fries and walked back over to her table. She dove back into vampirey goodness while shoving in a fry or taking a bite of her cheeseburger every once in a while, making sure not to drip any sauce on it. It was the town library's and she didn't want to ruin a book.

She took her time eating and reading at the time same, and read a good twenty pages before choosing to get to her fifth period class. She put her book back into her bag and picked up her flimsy disposable Styrofoam tray. As she approached a trash can and proceeded to throw it away, she felt herself trip over something and she fell to her hands and knees on the floor. She heard laughing to her left and turned toward it. A group of about six or seven teenagers sat there, laughing.

"Good one Eddy!" a redhead complimented, slapping a tall, skinny guy's hand.

"Well, you know the saying, 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall'!" Eddy bellowed out between laughs. Once again, Sam felt her face redden with embarrassment and tears filling the brim of her eyes. She didn't want to make any more of a scene than there already was, so she just picked herself and walked off. She was met with another foot in the way, and she stumbled forward a few steps before catching her footing. The laughter behind her increased in volume, and she walked off, absolutely trembling with humiliation. She kept blinking back tears, not wanting to show anybody exactly how much it hurt, although she was sure a fraction of the pain showed on her face.

_This year is absolutely going to be as close to hell as I can possibly imagine…_

Mariah Mitchell couldn't believe school was beginning _already_. She was perfectly content with spending the rest of her days in a summer paradise, preferably with a certain yellow-eyed hottie whom she'd known since kindergarten. It really was a shame that he had to spend most of his summer helping out his brother at his new restaurant. They all visited sometimes to help keep him from dying of boredom, but most didn't stop by there very often. She would've been there every day to spend time with him, but she was far too afraid of being with him alone. With a group, she was perfectly fine, but if she were to be alone with her long-time crush, she would lose her bearings and become a huge pile of mush at his feet. That was the last thing she wanted to seem like. So, she didn't see him very often. She felt bad, but at least he had gotten off the hook before school started. It was good Roy finally got a new waitress, better her than Mariah's Ray.

She dressed in the ugly uniform that utterly clashed with her hair and walked off to school. She lived down the street from Abbey, so why not just walk there? She was just glad she was in high school with the rest of her friends instead of at the junior high. Eighth grade was the loneliest year of her life. Now she was a Freshman while most of her other friends were a year higher.

She walked in the door and peered around to see if she could see Ray or even Tala anywhere. Wherever they were, the rest of their friends would be nearby. The school was so huge that she couldn't find them anywhere, and she had to go to her first period class without even saying "hi" to anyone she knew. She sighed heavily and plopped down into a random chair and braced herself for a boring speech from Ms. Kincaid. She had heard from everyone how boring Health class was, but they also said it was a very easy A as long as you did all the work. Mariah supposed she could live with the dullness of a normal classroom if it were easy.

Ms. Kincaid offered to have everyone introduce themselves and she started with this brown-haired girl in the corner next to the door. Mariah hadn't ever seen her before, so she just assumed she was a new girl. She didn't really pay much attention until she heard a statement that disgusted her.

"Pig out, by the looks of it…" Hilary Tatibana. Mariah _hated_ Hilary. Hilary proclaimed herself princess of the school and practically demanded everyone to bow down and kiss her feet. She starved herself to fit into that size two skirt and size extra small shirt, trying to look good as best she could in it but the truth was she looked no better in it than anyone else.

Mariah turned to look at the new girl, who had her head bowed in shame at all the laughter going on throughout the class. Ms. Kincaid scolded Hilary for saying such a thing, and unfortunately, those words were pretty much the beginning of the year of torture on that poor girl.

Mariah hated that everyone in this school had to be small in order to fit in with the "in crowd" and she's glad she doesn't. She has quite a few more pounds of muscle on her than anyone else, but she manages to pull it off. At least Mariah knows she'd kick her ass in a fist fight with Hilary.

Ms. Kincaid moved on to other people and when it came to Mariah's turn, she introduced herself.

"My name's Mariah Mitchell and I _love_ to hang out with my friends," she started out sweetly, being sure to draw it out as to catch Hilary's attention. "Let's see, there's Ray, and Tala, Enrique, Robert… Oh! And _Kai_ too!" Mariah had the luxury of being friends with the hottest and most popular boys in school, and Hilary was totally jealous of the fact. Everyone knew she had wanted to get her greedy claws on Kai Hiwatari since sixth grade. The other names were for the sake of the Hilary clones in the class who wanted the rest of the boys for themselves. A blue-haired girl named Ming Ming in particular rather liked Tala.

Hilary turned her make-up covered face toward Mariah and shot her a weak glare. Mariah only gave her a smug smirk in return. Hilary sneered and turned back around to face the front.

The rest of the teens introduced themselves to Ms. Kincaid and then she told a little about herself for the rest of the period. The bell rang and everyone filed out to go to their second period. Mariah's next period was algebra with a new teacher named Mrs. Brown, with red-colored hair and blue eyes, not matching her name at all. She looked nice enough. Her third period was English I with Mr. Topper and then she had Physical Science with Mr. Balkov. Everyone said this was the hardest class because he doesn't do a good job of explaining how to do problems very well. She walked in the room and a certain familiar head of red hair caught her attention. His ice blue eyes were glaring in front of him at nothing in particular and his lips were curved downward into a very irritated frown.

Mariah couldn't help but smile at how _cute_ Tala looked. She had a very slight crush on him, if only because he was sweet and funny when he wanted to be. She walked over and sat down to his right, face set in an amused expression.

"Awww, is Tala forced to be with us stupid Freshman?" Mariah asked in a baby-like voice.

"Shut up Mariah. I'm just fine all my other classes, but _nooooo_ Mr. Balkov just _has_ to be so **confusing**!" Tala barked back, complaining.

Mariah couldn't help but laugh at how pathetic he looked at the moment, and Tala shot her a very Kai-worthy glare. Kai had mastered the art of glaring and could be very scary whenever he wanted to be.

"All right class, shut up, sit down, and face forward!" Mr. Balkov boomed out, gathering everybody's attention and getting everybody to shut up pretty effectively.

"Now, I expect you all to be silent and in your seats at the bell's ring. I have to tolerance for chatters. That is what the lunch break is for. I know it may be impossible for some of you, but it is possible to go without talking for more than five minutes."

_Ohhh, yeah, he's definitely scary._

Like in most of the other classes, we introduced ourselves and noted with relief no one picked on that new girl, Sam, again. Poor Tala was the only Sophomore in the class and he definitely was aware of that fact.

The bell for lunch rang and everyone ran out of the room to get away from the scary science teacher. Mariah walked with Tala to dump his books in his locker before going to the cafeteria. Luckily, being friends with him gives you the perks of being able to cut people in line without anyone complaining. The Freshman will learn soon enough. They were some of the first to get their food and sat down where Kai, Bryan, Spencer, Emily, Max, Ray, and Tyson already were.

"Soo, Tala, how was your science class?" Ray asked teasingly.

"Shut up, Ray. Don't make me beat your ass into the ground," Tala replied sharply, his tone of voice saying he would if he was prompted enough to.

"Ooo, I'm so scared," Ray replied sarcastically, taking a bite out of his cheeseburger.

"Should be," Tala mumbled, obviously still depressed.

"It'll be all right Tala, if it makes you feel any better, I barely passed that class with an A last year," Max, a cute blonde with adorable blue eyes and freckles commented.

"Max, you are _so_ not funny!" Tala yelled at him. Everyone at the table laughed at poor Tala's misery while he tried to reach across to strangle Max.

Mariah grabbed the back of his shirt and jerked him back down in his chair. "Sit boy."

"Mariah…" Tala said threateningly.

"Tala?" Mariah asked innocently. Tala glared back at her before just turning back to his food. She giggled slightly and absently gazed around the cafeteria she hadn't ever seen. There was round tables everywhere with about eight chairs surrounding them all. They were all green, black, or blue, matching the school's colors. _Everything_ matched the school's colors in this place. She was sick of all the colors already. The floor was hardwood, a pale apricot color, far too bright to stare at for any length of time. The lunch line was up against the far fall as you walk in and the line sort of curved around the tables and could sometimes reach the doorway.

On the other side of the room, Mariah could see Hilary, Ming Ming, a blonde-haired girl named Camille, another blonde named Cassandra, a black-haired tall skinny guy named Eddy, a bigger guy named Steven, and a redhead named Michael all sitting together at a table. These were mostly the 'leaders' of the school. There's Hilary, the most popular girl in school, Ming Ming is always the lead in the school plays, Camille is cheerleader captain, Cassandra is captain of the dancing team, Eddy's the basketball captain, Steven's the quarterback of the football team, and Michael's captain of the baseball team. They pretty much have the say on whether you can join their teams or not. There are many girls - far, far too many - who would do anything for Hilary to just be one of her friends. Neither Mariah nor most of her friends really liked them at all. All the guys were in one sport or another, and they do so while trying to ignore the captain as much as possible.

While Mariah sat staring over there without really staring at much at all, she could register the new girl walking by their table, trying to throw away her tray and probably get to her next class. Not a moment after stepping near the table, she stumbled over something and fell to her hands and knees. Everyone at the table suddenly started laughing and Michael gave Eddy a high-five.

"Good one Eddy!" Michael said gleefully, with no respect for that poor girl's feelings.

"Well, you know the saying, 'the bigger they are, the harder they fall'!" Eddy replied back and everyone laughed louder. Sam got back up without a word and tried just walking off but Michael tripped her again. She stumbled but otherwise didn't stop walking away.

"Mariah? Mariah! Earth to Mariah!" Someone snapped Mariah out of it and she finally heard Ray calling out her name.

"Huh?"

"You looked like you were plotting someone's death," Ray commented.

"Whose and can I help?" Tala offered and Mariah smiled.

"Who else? Hilary and everyone else over there," she answered, jerking her chin toward the table where they were all still laughing to themselves.

"Why? Well, I know they're all need a good kick in the ass, but what'd they do this time?" Tyson asked.

"You guys seen the new girl yet today? Long, pretty brown hair? A bigger girl? Well, they seemed to have declared war on that poor girl. They just tripped her as they were walking by, then they had the nerve to just start laughing at her. And, during first period, Hilary made this totally out of line comment because she doesn't look exactly like her," Mariah said, disgusted.

"You know, those jerks over there really need a taste of their own medicine. I could probably get some dirt on my cousin Michael at some point to spread around," Emily offered, smirking deviously at all the possibilities.

"Eh, that's far too simple and overused, not good enough at all," Tala said, then he smirked with an idea. "Besides, we need something on all of them. Glue in the hair always works."

"You are all children, you know that?" Kai commented.

"Oh, Kai, your words hurt me," Tala said dramatically. "At least we're having fun."

"Hn," Kai said simply, something they've all learned usually meant 'whatever'. The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch hour and they all got up to throw away their trays and trail off to their fifth period class. Mariah's next class was PE, so she made her way to the gym. The rest of her friends joined her since they had that class too. They all walked in and heard something like a battle cry. Tyson had heard that same cry one too many times and cringed and tried to cower away. A wooden training sword stopped just inches from Tyson's face and he opened one eye to see what had happened. What he saw made his jaw drop in disbelief.

"Grandpa! _You're_ the new PE teacher?" Tyson gaped at his gray-haired grandfather who used to run a dojo.

"That's right homeboy! They needed one and agreed to hire me! I already had my teacher's degree from running that dojo, and thought it'd be fun!" he laughed out loud at his grandson's obvious disapproval as Tyson slumped over.

"This is going to be the worst year of my life…" he complained, walking all the way in the gym.

Samantha trudged into the gym after suffering through that humiliating 'confrontation' with those kids. She perked up when she heard someone addressing her.

"Hello home girl! Are you in my class this period?" she looked up and saw this older guy with gray hair staring at her with a hopeful expression. She stuck on a half-smile and replied. "If you're Mr. Granger and this is the PE class."

"Yep, that's me! But call me Grandpa, I won't allow anyone to call me Mr. Granger! And what's your name?"

"Sam Starnette." She said simply. She fidgeted slightly, just wanting to sit down and wallow in her misery a little longer. He crossed her name off a list he had and turned around when he heard more people coming down the hall.

"Just sit down on those bleachers over there for right now all right? I have to go say hello to my grandson!" he ran off to the gymnasium entrance and almost hit a kid in the head with a wooden training sword. She heard them talking to each other as she did as she was instructed. She rested against the wall behind her at the top of the bleachers and stared off into space as she waited for class to start.

Grandpa, as he liked to be called, said a little about himself and the class and he sent everyone off to pick out a gym locker in the locker rooms. He was going to wait out in the gym and asked everyone to come back out once they picked a locker and grab a lock. Sam just went in and picked a random one that was about half the size of a regular one, since she didn't think she really needed all that room for a few clothes and a pair of shoes.

She came back out and told Grandpa her locker number and he handed her a lock with a goofy grin. He wrote down her combination and she went in to put it on. She came back out, went up to where she left her book bag, and took out her book again.

Her sixth period Geometry class with Mrs. Brown was uneventful, and made her way back to Mr. Topper's class for Creative Writing. She had to say she was pretty excited for this class, especially since not a lot of kids were in that class in the first place. He introduced himself to everyone again and had everyone else introduce themselves to him in a letter. Letter-writing was not Sam's favorite thing in the world to do, but at least she would be able to get to write whatever her heart desired sooner or later. She finished pretty quickly, not having too much to say about herself, and handed it to him on her way out of the door. She made her way back to her locker and made sure everything was organized and neat. She grabbed a pair of clothes she had brought with her to change into for work and carried them to the bathroom. She changed into a pair of black slacks and a plain blue button-up shirt. She put her uniform in her bag and walked out of the bathroom.

She was about to walk out of the front door when she was stopped by someone calling her name. She turned around to see Mr. Dickenson making her way up to her.

"Hello Mr. Dickenson."

"How was your day at school, Sam?" he asked politely.

She thought back to first period and during lunch, but otherwise the day really wasn't all that bad. "It was good, although I wish I had a bit more sleep last night," she joked.

Mr. Dickenson smiled. "Well, I hope things will continue to look up for you. I'm very glad you are able to come here."

Sam thanked him and bid him farewell as she walked out the door and down the street toward Roy's restaurant. She fervently hoped that she would soon fade into the wallpaper soon so she wouldn't have to live through the dreadful statements other teenagers could say about each other.

* * *

Well, here's another chapter! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, more cookies for you!

**AND** Please forgive me if this chapter isn't the best. My Beta hasn't quite been able to get back to me, I'm sure she's very busy with school, but I did want to get another chapter out to you.

I would appreciate it sooo much if more people would review though! It makes me soo entirely happy and if I get enough, I might update again during the week. :D

Thanks again, please review, Cya!


	5. Tala Ivanov

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own the anime Beyblade or any of its character. The lucky jerk who does is Takao Aoki, so do not sue me for anything of the sort. I only own Samantha, any other characters you don't happen to recognize from the series and the plot line

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The next two weeks was the opposite of what Sam wished for.

She quickly learned some of the names of students as teachers or other students addressed them. The first name she learned was Hilary Tatibana. She was the one who made the worst comments on her dress size. It didn't make it any better when Mr. Dickenson held a back-to-school assembly on the second day of school and introduced her to _everybody_.

So, Sam was officially the fat girl who didn't have as much money as everyone else. That generally got most everyone to ignore her, except for the select few who found it amusing to make fun of her. Really, it was the same group of people every time, and Sam knew they were all a bunch of jerks who had nothing better to do with their time, but that didn't mean that the comments didn't hurt. She knew she was fat and didn't really care. She just hated that people had to call her on it.

Mostly, she just tried to get through her school year one class period at a time, and tried to keep up with her homework. Luckily, the restaurant was still fairly slow most days, and Roy let her do her homework after she cleaned the tables and did other daily jobs.

Sam trudged slowly through another health class, another English I class, and another History class, before walking into Mr. Balkov's class once again. This class wasn't unbearable as long as you sat down, shut up, and paid attention. Today, Mr. Balkov was teaching the class about ionic and covalent bonds, which was immensely easy for her. Sam's old teacher had gone over it last year and, since she had a fairly good memory, she remembered how to do most of it. Mr. Balkov handed out the worksheets and explained how to do them without actually doing any of the problems. Sam ignored him and finished the worksheet quickly, deciding to read her book instead of paying attention to the teacher. She managed to space out and enter the book she was reading for a few minutes, but that was all she got.

"Miss Starnette! Shouldn't you be paying attention instead of _reading_?" Mr. Balkov scolded, making everyone stare at her. Sam could feel heat rise up to her face as she hurriedly tried to answer.

"I-I've already finished my worksheet," she replied with the first thing that came into her mind, but then apologized, thinking that that wasn't the best thing to say to Mr. Balkov.

"Well, then, since you already know the material, you can come up to the board and solve this problem fairly easily, can't you?" he said, gesturing toward the formula on the board. She mentally groaned and nodded her head, her face equivalent to the color of a tomato. She got up, walked over to the board and picked up a whiteboard marker, reading the problem. **(A/N: The 2 and the 6 are supposed to be subscripts. Sorry!)**

**C2H6**

She was supposed to draw a picture showing the covalent bond with the formula given. She started drawing the picture when Mr. Balkov barked out, "Don't forget to explain to the whole class what you're doing." Sam nodded again and shyly started her explanation.

"W-well, according to the formula, there are two Carbon atoms and six Hydrogen atoms. Carbon has four valence electrons, which is the number of electrons in the last energy level," Sam mentally kicked herself for saying that, since he just went over that not even ten minutes ago. "A-and Hydrogen only has one valence electron. So, with the Lewis Dot Diagrams, they should look like this."

**:C: :C: H. H. H. H. H. H.**

"Now, we have to arrange all of them like a puzzle, so that they all have a full last energy level. Carbon can bond four ways, and with the Hydrogens, they can be arranged like this and all have full outer energy levels."

**HH  
****H:****C****:****C****:H  
****HH**

"And now, both Carbons have eight electrons in their outer shell and the Hydrogens are also happy because they only need two electrons to fill their outer shell." She finished her explanation and looked nervously over at Mr. Balkov. His expression was unreadable and she fervently hoped she didn't do anything wrong. Relief washed over her when he muttered out a "Good," and took his marker back. Sam sat back down at her desk and decided to wait until he was done with his explanations to do any reading in the future.

The bell rang a half an hour later and everyone filed out of the classroom and headed toward the cafeteria. Sam sat down at her usual table and brought out a book to read.

Tala couldn't believe he was in a Freshman class! He couldn't stand the class, he couldn't stand Mr. Balkov, and, at this rate, he was going to fail again! He _did not_ want to take Physical Science again!

He stomped into the classroom full of annoying Freshman - excluding Mariah, they had been friends since first grade - and sat down in his chair next to the pink-haired girl, crossing his arms.

"Sulking again?" Mariah asked with an amused smile, like she was talking to a little kid. Mentally, he actually was.

"Yes, got a problem with it?" Tala muttered, eye twitching with irritation. Mariah only shook her head and turned her attention to Mr. Balkov's explanation of ionic and covalent bonds among elements.

For Tala, it could've been in another language for all it did him, he just couldn't make sense of what the teacher was telling him. He concentrated and paid attention all he could so that some epiphany might be able to hit him.

"Miss Starnette! Shouldn't you be paying attention instead of _reading_?" Mr. Balkov suddenly bellowed out as he stared over at the new girl whom Hilary loves to ridicule.

"I-I've already finished my worksheet. Sorry." Tala widened his eyes. This girl actually finished the worksheet before Mr. Balkov finished explaining? _How??_

"Well, then, since you already know the material, you can come up to the board and solve this problem fairly easily, can't you?" Her face colored red and she nodded her head. She got up and made her way up to the whiteboard where the problem was. He watched intently as she went through the problem, explaining every bit of it and Tala found with shock that he could actually somewhat understand it! This girl was good at explaining, and he desperately needed someone to help with his work in this class. He wondered if she would help him. He hoped so!

When the class ended, he made sure to bring his work along. Surely, she'd be in the cafeteria too. He dropped his bag next to his chair at the table where he and his friends usually sat. He decided to grab lunch first and got in line with Kai in front of him.

They must have noticed him looking around the cafeteria because Ray asked, "What in the world are you looking for? Your new girlfriend? Who is it this time?"

Tala ignored him, not even sparing Ray a glance, trying to spot Sam in the cafeteria. Finally he found her at a table in the back corner.

"I'll be right back guys," Tala said and they all gave him confused looks. They watched him as he made his way through the tables and to the table where Sam sat reading again. She decided not to eat lunch since there wasn't anything they had that she wanted to eat. She glanced up from her book and saw the redhead standing in front of her with a backpack over his shoulder. She fidgeted, nervous with his stare boring into her. Then, he completely surprised her by clasping his hands together, bending over so they were at eye level, then saying, "Will you please, please, _please_ help me with my Physical Science homework? It's like another language to me, I can't get it at all, I'm an idiot, I'm desperate, please??"

They heard hysterical laughing from somewhere close and turned their gaze to the table where Tala's friends sat at. Tala grew angry and raised a fist as if to hit them, even though he wasn't anywhere close to anybody.

"HEY! STOP LAUGHING! IF YOU SAW THE CAR, YOU'D BE ON YOUR HANDS AND KNEES TOO!" This only made them laugh harder, Max and Ray falling out of their chairs on the floor. Kai was even having trouble trying to keep from laughing. "And I call them my friends…" Tala muttered as he sat down next to Sam. He turned toward her again. "So, will you help me? My parents said that if I can get straight A's by semester, they'll pay for half of a car for me. I know which car I want, and it's totally awesome and I really want it. Please?" Tala had this adorable puppy-dog eyes look on his face and Sam just couldn't resist at all. Of course, that wasn't saying anything, considering she'd agree anyway.

Tala just beamed, and Sam smiled back. She liked his smile. He brought out the worksheet that was handed out in Mr. Balkov's class and Sam proceeded to walk him through the first problem. She told the steps to him, but made him tell her the answers and she filled in anything he didn't know. He managed to do the first one mostly by himself with Sam's help, and he started to talk through the second problem himself but was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Hey Sam! I know you want him, but Tala isn't going to go out with an elephant like you!" Everyone at Hilary's table burst out laughing at Michael's comment. Sam's eyes widened and she turned her head away from Tala, cheeks burning, and a lump forming in her throat. She gritted her teeth and blinked back tears, a regular occurrence during lunch these days.

Tala also heard the comment and turned toward Sam. She turned away from him but he could see the blush forming on her face and her trying not to cry. Tala's eyes narrowed. He loved poking fun at everyone else every once in a while, but only with people who would poke fun back. There wasn't any reason he could think of that would justify humiliating someone to the point of tears. He couldn't let them get away with that. Especially since Sam's taking the time to batter into his head enough knowledge to actually give him a chance of getting an A in Mr. Balkov's class. Michael had made him mad in the past, but now he was furious. His quick thinking brought up a comeback to the tip of his tongue and he turned around in his seat to face Michael.

"I don't know Michael, she's kind of cute…" Tala called out to them conversationally, making all of them fall silent in shock. They weren't the only ones in shock.

_He thinks I'm cute??_ Sam thought in astonishment as she listened to the rest of what Tala had to say.

"Besides, who wouldn't want me? I'm undeniably sexy and have more charm in my pinky finger than you do in your whole body. And I know you know, I see you checking me out every day," Tala finished with a wink.

"Is _that_ what he's doing? Eww!" Mariah was heard over everyone else, squealing in fake realization. His friends all laughed at them for a change, and Tala sent Michael a smug smirk as he glared at Tala before turning around in defeat. Tala let out a few victory laughs of his own before turning around, ready for Sam to continue battering this stuff in his head again.

"Sooo, I have to draw the what's-his-name Dot Diagrams first right?" he asked, like nothing had just happened. Sam turned toward him again, blush still evident on her face. "Yes," she answered, then added as an afterthought, "and thank you."

Tala turned his grin to her and replied, "Don't mention it. I've been waiting for a chance to start it up with them again anyway." He could see her small grateful smile on her face even though she was staring at the table. A thought came to his mind and he smirked mischievously. He reached his hand around her waist and placed his mouth near her ear. "You know, I wasn't lying when I said you were kind of cute," he said with a huge grin. She turned to look at him in shock as a shade of red Tala thought wasn't possible colored her whole face, ears, and the upper half of her neck. Then she adverted her eyes and turned back to stare at the table, but her mouth opened and closed, trying to form words, and her eyes kept glancing between him and the table, trying to think of something that wouldn't deem her a complete lunatic.

Tala couldn't help but think her face was hilarious and started laughing. A wave of hurt washed over her, but she knew he wasn't trying to make her feel bad.

"So, shall we keep working?" he asked, his tone saying that he already knew the answer. Sam couldn't help but tease him for teasing her.

"I don't know…" she began, mimicking his tone from earlier and resting her chin in her hand, turning away from him so he couldn't see her smile. She could almost feel his panic radiating off him, making her smile wider, but she managed to keep her voice level. "If you're going to keep teasing me like that, I could just get too annoyed to help you."

"Oh, no!" he panicked. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I really need your help, I won't do it again, I promise!"

He sounded like he was about to get on his hands and knees and beg, and Sam finally just cracked up laughing. "I'm joking."

He glared at her, embarrassed at his outburst. "Oh, yeah, ha ha, I'm sure I'm so funny."

She couldn't help but laugh again a few more times before sobering up and helping him with the rest of his worksheet.

* * *

All righty! Again, this is the part where I ask you to review my story because it makes me very, very happy. Ask _Starlightmonkey, HeartlessOnna, _and _Dark Dragon - Fire Fox_ just how much it makes me happy. I jump up and down and squeal and hand out cookies and money. A very small amount mind you, I'm not making any money off of this stuff. **(Hint Hint for anyone who didn't see the disclaimer up there)** Just making sure.

Also, if there's anything that you think would be cool or exciting to have in this story, feel free to review or pm me and tell me. I'm actually stuck already. I just need a few ideas for Sam and the gang to get closer together. Just stuff to do outside of school, events that could happen during school, basic stuff like that.

Well, thank you sooo very much, and again, I would appreciate you hitting that review button down there. I would absolutely love it! Cya!


	6. New Friends

The next day, Sam was almost happy to go to school. After helping Tala at lunch and after he actually stood up for her, she was excited to see him again. Most of it was that she was very desperate to actually have a friend at that school. She couldn't stand being alone anymore.

And with someone to back her up, maybe she would be able to stand up for herself to Hilary and Michael.

Despite the last few weeks at school, she was excited for Physical Science. She hoped Tala would talk to her again and she hoped she could at least be friends with him.

Just as she was about to sit down in her usual seat, a gentle hand closed around her upper arm to pull her towards the center of the room.

She craned her head to see who the gentle hand belonged to and managed to catch a glimpse of a familiar redhead with that goofy grin on his face.

"After you helped me so much yesterday, you think you're ever going to sit over there by the door again? No way, you're officially my Physical Science tutor, starting today! Well, technically yesterday, but whatever," he told her, giddiness welling up within her as she let herself be pushed into a seat.

She just kept silent, not knowing what to say since he didn't seem to be expecting a reply orany kind of approval.

Today, Mr. Balkov collected all the worksheets and gave everyone a bigger packet full of more ionic and covalent bond practice. He told everyone they could have partners to work on it and Tala scooted his desk over closer to Sam with a huge, enthusiastic grin on his face. Again, she felt an indescribable joy wash over her because of the fact she can make someone smile like that. Of course, her face colored red again.

Sam helped Tala with his worksheet packet whenever he needed it but he actually held his own pretty well this time around. It turned out Mariah was doing pretty well also, so after they finished the worksheet, they chatted quietly while Tala kept going at his own pace. Their relaxed chatter quickly shifted from Physical Science to stuff that really matters. Like their personal life and shared interests!

It seemed like the class had gone by way too fast for Sam's liking by the time lunch came around. Not sure whether they'd want her to wait around, she started walking off with her own bag.

She got halfway down the hall when she heard her name being called out. Turning around, she saw Mariah running up to her,her long pink hair trailing behind her.

"Hey Sam, why don't you come sit with us today?" she asked with a disarming smile.

Sam's face lit up and an eager smile broke out before she could stop it. "Sure!" she agreed. "Let me get my books for my next class, is that okay?"

"Sure! I'll watch out for you and call you over, okay?"

"Okay," Marching off again toward her locker, Sam smiled to herself. She exchanged her morning class books with her afternoon ones, all the while excited and anxious at finally getting some friends.

As she stood up and shut her locker door, she didn't notice anyone else coming up behind her. All of a sudden, she was backed up against her locker, slightly disoriented from the unexpected movement. A shocked expression on her face, she stood facing a blue-haired girl that she recognized as one of Hilary's friends. If her memory served correct, this girl's name was Ming Ming. Hilary and those other two girls stood behind her, backing her up.

Before Sam could react, Ming Ming started talking.

"Listen up here, new girl! I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just come here and start flirting with everyone, especially Tala!"

Sam started at her, feeling very embarrassed and very stupid. She was actually flirting with him yesterday? She hadn't known that! Call her naïve, but she really doesn't know the difference between flirting and joking around. _Is_ there a difference?

"Tala is mine, no one else's! I especially won't let a fat, ugly, disgusting girl like you ever have him. Stay away from him!" she screamed, finishing her rant.

For an instant, the fear Sam felt was overshadowed by the sudden desire to scream and put them down for a change, but once she remembered she was all alone against four girls at their nastiest since her coming to the school, she felt like disappearing into the floor until they left her alone.

"What?" Ming Ming demanded, realizing that Sam was about to actually argue with her. "You do know that what we've done so far to you isn't even the beginning, right? We can make your life a hell of a lot worse and make you regret even thinking about taking that stupid test which allowed you to come here. If it were up to me, I would've kicked your ass out the door the moment I laid eyes on you, if they hadn't burned out first! You're a stupid, incompetent bitch who has no right to be here! I wouldn't recommend even showing up to school tomorrow, just go back to your public school."

And with a sneer, all the girls walked off to the cafeteria, leaving Sam standing there. The lump in her throat was so big that it felt impossible to breathe around it and her eyes stung so much it felt like they were on fire. The good day she was having just threw itself off a cliff. It was then she decided there was no way she could handle walking into the cafeteria and sitting next to Tala, Mariah and their friends.

Making sure she grabbed her bag, Sam made her way to the nearest flight of stairs.

While taking in the school when it was filled with people during her first few days, she noticed that with the student lounge on the third floor and the cafeteria and the vending machines on the first floor where the kids mostly spend their time, the bathrooms on the second floor weren't used that often. There wasn't any reason to go to the second floor to use the bathroom during the few times of the day when they could use the bathroom at all. She found the women's bathroom and walked in, only realizing right then as she saw her hand shaking that she was trembling all over.

She felt so humiliated.

Walking past the ten or so stalls, she finally let her tears fall. She slid down the far wall to the ground and hugged her knees to her chest. She let her forehead rest on her knees and she started sobbing. Those awful comments just hurt her so much and there wasn't anything else to do but cry.

She just sat there, by herself, until she heard the only door open. A jolt of fear shot through her, thinking that it may be one of the upper classmen or, even worse, Ming Ming or one of her friends.

To Sam's relief, it was only Mariah, with a concerned expression on her face. Sam looked to the side, rubbing her eyes and cheeks with shaking hands to try to wipe off her tears, but Ming Ming's comments kept running through her tried not to make any noise, but miserable, choked sobs still rocked her frame.

Mariah sat down next to her and Sam didn't struggle as she guided her into her arms while Sam cried into her shoulder. Finally, Sam managed to stop crying long enough for Mariah to ask what was wrong, tone laced with worry.

"M-Ming Ming and Hilary and those other two girls came u-up to m-me and st-started y-yelling at me. M-Ming Ming w-was saying how Tala was h-hers and to st-stay aw-away from him. Th-then she called me a b-b-bitch, and st-started saying ho-how I was ugly, and incompetent, and-and how, how I shouldn't be here at this school at a-a-a-all!" Sam explained through her hiccups and heavy breaths.

The memories came back andonce again, she had tears rolling down her hugged her tighter and tried to calm her down, all the while feeling so much anger toward those girls.

Sam obviously hasn't had to deal with jealous girls before and she had no idea how to come back and get them to leave her alone. Mariah, however, had lived with them all her life and figured out exactly what to say to get them to storm off in their $150 shoes.

Now that she thought about it, Sam probably didn't deal with a lot of stuff at her old school. Mariah watched them both yesterday and noticed that Sam was flirting with Tala, without realizing it. She knew that Tala noticed too, but he had obviously let it slide.

It didn't take as long for Sam to quiet down again, but Mariah could tell that she wasn't even close to finished, judging by the way she was still trembling. She still hiccupped and sniffled but kept her head buried in Mariah's shoulder. Mariah's hand gently moved up and down her back, comforting her.

"It's okay. I know exactly how those girls are. I've had to deal with a lot of crap from them in the past. They've been out to get me for a long time. I've also figured out what I need to say to get them to stop," Mariah tried to cheer her up with a warm smile. "It also helps when you're friends with some of the most powerful kids in school."

"I-I know," Pulling away from Mariah, Sam wiped away her tears with her jacket sleeve as she continued. "I know that if I just stand up, they'll get tired of trying to beat me down and go away. B-but, I'm scared. They obviously know what they're talking about. They, they also threatened that they'd get a lot worse if I kept talking to Tala. And I'm outnumbered. They wouldn't be afraid of me, especially when they know they're more powerful than me and that I'm all alone."

"True," Mariah agreed. "But I won't let you be alone anymore. You're definitely a sweet girl and they don't have the right to treat you like that. I'll help! And I know Tala will help also, he practically worships the ground you walk on for helping him all the time. I'd help him, but I barely understand it all myself. And then the rest of our friends are really nice. They won't object to you if Tala and I like you."

Sam smiled gratefully and nodded. She was so happy someone was willing to talk to her. She hated being so weak that she couldn't even stand up to a few girls, but she could deal with it if she had someone to back her up.

"All right, let's get you cleaned up and we'll see if we can get you introduced to everyone. You'll like Ray," Mariah stated, standing up and pulling Sam up too. The name Ray briefly rang a bell, but it was forgotten when she looked at herself in the mirror.

She really was a mess.

With red eyes and puffy cheeks, someone could definitely tell she had been crying. A pang of hurt washed through her again as she remembered why. She washed her face with some water while Mariah was taking a paper towel and trying to dry off her wet shoulder.

"Sorry," Sam mumbled, drying her face off.

"Don't worry about it! They gave me, like, ten of these things, and I can always wash it," Mariah said, smiling. Nodding her head, Sam answered with a small grateful smile. Throwing away the paper towel, Mariah led Sam out of the bathroom by the wrist.

"Come on! We should still have some time left to talk to all of them!" Mariah led her to the cafeteria which was still a little under half-full. Glancing at the clock, she saw that there was about fifteen minutes left until class. Mariah shot a grin toward a table where Tala sat at and Tala answered with a concerned look at Sam.

Was it still evident that she was crying?

Mariah mouthed 'Hilary and Ming Ming' to Tala and he narrowed his eyes in response. Some of the other guys turned around and saw both Mariah and Sam coming toward them. Sam felt her face warm up, but Tala gave her a goofy grin as she came closer.

"Hey!" he said, in that carefree way of his.

Sam smiled shyly and mumbled a soft hi.

Mariah sat her down in a seat between her and Tala and introduced everyone. They all smiled warmly and/or waved, sensing the tension in the air and wanting to make the new girl feel better.

The last two boys Sam recognized. Who in the world could forget the Asian hottie who served her the one time she came in with her family and the hottest guy she'd ever seen?

A bit of awkward silence followed before Tala broke it.

"And this, guys," Tala began, wrapping an arm around Sam's neck, causing her face and neck to warm up further. "This is going to be my ticket to getting my car by semester."

"I'm surprised that you can actually even learn anything without the help from someone short of Einstein," Max joked.

"Max! Shut it! I wasn't talking to you!" Tala retaliated.

"Actually, technically you were," Emily, the only girl other than Sam and Mariah stated. "you addressed us all when you said 'guys'."

"You're so freaking hilarious Emily. What is it, Pick-on-Tala Day?"

"Didn't you know? It's always that day around here, Tala!" Mariah said, and everyone laughed. Still feeling a bit down and a little awkward, Sam only cracked a reluctant smile.

"Hey. You're the waitress from Roy's restaurant, right?" Sam heard and she turned toward the voice. As she nodded, Kai turned to Ray, "Hn. You owe her, Ray."

"Oh, are you really? Sorry I never got a chance to meet you, but I got really sick of the inside of that place. I love my brother and all, but it's torture when a guy has to work instead of hanging out with friends during the summer," Ray said apologetically.

"It's okay, I don't mind. It's on my way home and I get some spending money I didn't have before. He's still not getting a lot of customers though," Sam replied shyly, a little more of her usual self showing through. Her face was still a bright red though, since Tala hadn't moved his arm from around her shoulders.

The bell for fifth period rang and everyone rose to their feet grudgingly. Tala finally let go of Sam's shoulders and reached toward the ceiling.

"P.E. Yippee," Tala said unenthusiastically.

"Don't bash P.E. It's practically the only class without homework!" Ray argued.

"You have P.E. next too, right Sam?" Mariah asked and Sam nodded.

"Well, let's go then!" she added, looping her arm through Sam's. Following Mariah and everyone else to the gym, she giggled when Grandpa almost hit Tyson in the head again with that wooden sword he always carried around.

"Grandpa! Do you have to do that every time I walk into the gym?" Tyson exclaimed, an annoyed expression crossing his face.

"Until you can stop it on your own! Don't you remember anything I taught you, homeboy?"

"Not really…" Tyson muttered. Mariah just rolled her eyes and kept dragging Sam back to the girl's locker room followed by Emily while the boys went to their own.

* * *

Sorry, sorry, sorry sooooooo much for the wait! It was mostly a bit of laziness.

Anyway, thank you everyone who has favorited my story, favorited me, put this story on story alert, put me on author alert, and reviewed the story with your feedback and suggestions! I am still very much stuck for the next few chapters, so if anyone else has some 'bonding' ideas or even just ideas for the story in general, please don't hesitate to send them to me. You will get credit, some cyber-cookies, and other goodies.

If you're still unsure on some ideas to send me, I was planning on something for Halloween, maybe some school tradition that they do every year, and maybe some kind of Thanksgiving part thrown in there.

**I WUV YOU SOOOOO MUCH UNOLAI! **If you've noticed a significant change between the sentence flow and just overall better structure, thank Unolai for her awesome grammar skills. XD

Thank you all again, very very much! And hopefully the next chapter won't be so long. I will try my best, I promise!

Please review more my awesome fans and I will Cya at the next chapter! ^^


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